


A Welcome Visitor

by katling



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: And aveline is going to kill him for it, Carver doesn't let his brother tell him what to do, Carver's sass, Gen, cullen's world-weary sigh, mentions of withdrawal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29069457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: When the knock comes on the door, the last person Cullen expected to see was Carver Hawke. But he's glad to see the man and more than happy to welcome him to the Inquisition. Not that Carver gives him much choice.I was surprised to find that I hadn't posted this one here. Still, better late than never, as they say. This comes from a prompt over at the dapromptexchange on tumblr, specificallythis one: Cullen and Carver bond over their similarities - being Templars, being Brothers and Sons, and their exasperation with the Champion of Kirkwall.I didn't precisely write the prompt but it was the inspiration for this.
Relationships: Carver Hawke & Cullen Rutherford, could be viewed as pre-Carver Hawke/Cullen Rutherford
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	A Welcome Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> This is set at Skyhold after Hawke has been and gone but well before the siege of Adamant and the party in Halamshiral.

The last person Cullen expected to see turn up on the Inquisition’s doorstep was Carver Hawke, especially not after the Inquisitor had told him that the younger Hawke brother had been taken off to safer places by Aveline. But when the knock on his door had come and he’d bid whoever it was to enter, there had been Carver Hawke, looking tired and faintly irritated.

“Carver,” Cullen said with surprise as he came round his desk to clasp hands with the man. “I thought you were with Aveline.”

Carver snorted. “I was but I gave her the slip.” He smiled wryly. “I’ll probably come to deeply regret that once she catches up with me, but I wasn’t going to let my brother shuffle me off to the back of beyond just because he’s feeling overprotective.”

“I thought mother hen was your brother’s natural state,” Cullen said wryly. “For his little inner circle anyway.”

Carver snorted again. “It is but I’m not just his little brother anymore. I’m a Templar and with most of the Templars running around and going mad, I’m not going to be shunted off, doing nothing. You certainly haven’t.”

Cullen smiled ruefully and rubbed the back of his neck. He gestured for Carver to sit down and his smile became more genuine when the younger Hawke slouched gracelessly in the chair in front of his desk. He hadn’t realised until this moment how much he’d missed Carver. He’d been a bit dubious when the younger Hawke had joined the Templars in Kirkwall but his fellow Fereldan had turned into an ally and more importantly a friend who had not been afraid to give Cullen a well-deserved kick up the backside when he needed it. 

The Inquisitor had once asked him how he’d come to drag himself out of the mire of Kirkwall and he’d very truthfully named ‘Hawke’ as the reason why. He just hadn’t elaborated that it hadn’t been the Champion of Kirkwall but the man’s younger brother who had been the one who had turned him around and helped him, where almost everyone else had washed their hands of him.

“Wine?” he offered.

“Maker, yes,” Carver replied, and Cullen laughed before grabbing a couple of goblets and pouring them both some wine.

“You know I’m not a Templar anymore,” Cullen said once he’d sat down.

Carver cocked his head curiously. “So I’ve been told. Though given there’s not much of an Order left, I’m pretty sure most of us aren’t Templars anymore.”

Cullen took a sip of his wine. “It goes a bit deeper than that” he paused and grimaced. “I’ve… stopped taking lyrium.”

Carver shot up out of his slouch, his back straightening as he sat up. The wine in his goblet sloshed over onto his hand but he ignored it in favour of glaring at Cullen. “You _what_? Are you mad? You’ve seen what happens to Templars who don’t take lyrium. Are you trying to kill yourself?”

Cullen matched his glare with an exasperated look. “I won’t be leashed to an Order and a Chantry I cannot respect.”

Carver’s glare deepened for a moment then he made an exasperated noise and slumped back in his chair. “I was right. You are mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Cullen said irritably.

“No, you’re being all irritatingly _noble_ ,” Carver said dryly. “How bad is it?”

Cullen shrugged and grimaced. “It’s… bearable.”

Carver snorted. “And how about the truth now? It’s me, not some stranger.”

Cullen scowled at him but relented. “Some days are worse than others. I haven’t gone mad yet but sometimes it’s… difficult.” He took a gulp of his wine. “The… want, the craving, it never really goes away.”

“Damn fool,” Carver grumbled. “Bet you’ve been overworking too so you’ve been making it worse.”

Cullen opened his mouth to deny that, but Carver just gave him a flat look and waved a hand at his overloaded desk. So he sighed and shut his mouth.

“Well, that’s easily solved at least,” Carver said briskly. “You need a second here, so I’ll do it.”

Cullen gave him an exasperated look. “I already _have_ a second.”

“And where is he?”

Cullen hesitated. “I, uh… stationed him in the Western Approach. It’s a long way from here and I needed someone in that region able to make command decisions in a hurry when needed.”

“So, you _don’t_ actually have a second,” Carver said with a shake of his head. He waved a hand when Cullen tried to correct him. “That’s okay. I’ll sort things out with him. We can share the job. What’s his name?”

“How did Meredith not throw you out for insubordination?” Cullen growled.

“My charm and winning personality,” Carver said blithely. “Also, she thought she could control my brother through me. Besides, you’re the one who mostly got my _insubordination_ directed at you and you never seemed to really mind, no matter how much you growled and grumped at me. Now, what’s his name?”

Cullen scowled at him but there was no real bite behind it so he wasn’t surprised when Carver ignored it. “Knight Captain Rylen,” he finally said with a sigh.

“I’ll sort things out with Rylen.” He smirked. “He’ll probably be relieved he doesn’t have to wrangle you on his own anymore.”

Cullen threw his free hand in the air. “Fine. It’s not like you ever listened to me anyway.”

“No, that’s my brother,” Carver said dryly. “I always _listened_ , I just didn’t always obey when you were giving stupid orders that came from Meredith.”

Cullen pinched the bridge of his nose. “Carver…”

Carver grinned at him. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a Templar and obeying orders is what we do. Just as well I’m not good at that or I’d be with Samson’s lot right now, wouldn’t I?” he smirked again. “Besides, in the end, you weren’t very good at obeying stupid orders either.”

Cullen rolled his eyes. “You’re a menace.”

“You love it.”

Cullen paused to consider that then he laughed. “Maker help me, I think I do.”

Carver’s grin was wide and wonderful and Cullen couldn’t help but return it. He felt relaxed around Carver in a way that he didn’t around so many others. Maybe it was because Carver had seen him at his worst and had still thought there was something worth salvaging there.

“So,” Carver said, slouching down again. “How much trouble did my brother cause while he was here?”

Cullen snorted. “He mostly stayed out of it for once, hard as that might be to believe. Though Cassandra didn’t react well to finding out Varric knew where he was all along.”

Carver shook his head. “You know, Varric’s a great friend but sometimes his priorities are a little off.”

“I’m not so sure in this case,” Cullen said thoughtfully as he took a sip of wine. “From what little we know, the Inquisitor was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It almost sounds like perhaps he was exploring the Temple of Sacred Ashes and stumbled over what was happening. Your brother… he’s too well known. I think he would have been in the thick of things, not wandering around the Temple.”

Carver frowned. “You don’t know what happened?”

“No,” Cullen replied. He quickly explained what little they’d learned from strange vision seen during the original attempt to close the Breach and the implication of Corypheus’ words. “The Inquisitor remembers nothing. He… gets agitated when he has to think about that. I don’t think he likes the… loss of control, I suppose.”

“I can understand that,” Carver said then he too frowned. “So, whatever happened to put the mark on the Inquisitor’s hand happened then. Had the Divine been kidnapped?”

“I assume so,” Cullen said. “She’d called a recess so everyone could take a break, get some rest and let their tempers cool. That’s why Leliana was in Haven and not up at the Temple. She’d come back to meet with some of her agents.”

“You weren’t up there?”

Cullen grimaced. “No, I… tried to avoid going to the Temple. There are… _were_ mages from Kirkwall there. My presence wouldn’t have helped the Divine keep things calm.”

Carver gave him a long steady look but then clearly decided to drop that particular subject. Cullen doubted he’d avoided talking about it. Carver could be relentless when he wanted to be, but he also understood the concept of the right time and place to do things far better than his brother ever had.

“So, everyone thought she was resting and hadn’t missed her,” Carver mused. “Yeah, Garrett would have been neck deep in trying to solve everyone’s problems to make her job easier. I think he would have liked the Divine though. She was actually trying to _do_ something, unlike Elthina.”

Cullen nodded. He’d suspected the same. While he’d thought that Hawke the elder and the Divine might not have agreed on everything, he felt that they _would_ have agreed that the war could not continue to grind over innocent people’s homes and lands. That _some_ sort of peace needed to be negotiated.

“And he wouldn’t have been wherever the Divine was,” Cullen said. “So, he would have died.”

“I see what you mean then,” Carver replied. He grimaced. “Corypheus. I really thought he was dead. He looked dead enough.”

“That’s one of the many questions we’re trying to answer,” Cullen said before draining the rest of his goblet. “Come on. Let’s go and see Josephine. If you’re going to insist on being my co-second, we’d better get everything sorted out.”

Carver finished his wine and got up with a laugh. “Oh, I’m absolutely going to be your co-second. We both know you can’t look after yourself worth a damn.”

Cullen scowled at him but then laughed when Carver looked completely unrepentant. “Maker, I don’t need you starting that up again. It’s bad enough with the ladies and the Inquisitor as it is.”

“Good.”

Cullen shook his head ruefully and led the way out of his office. The work on his desk wasn’t any less than it had been before but somehow things just seemed a whole lot better.


End file.
